


This is What Happens Next

by consenguin



Series: And hell followed with him [1]
Category: Far Cry 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Fuck Canon, Graphic Description, Rape/Non-con Elements, bad becomes good, caleb rook voice: look at me im da captain now, ethan isn't josephs son, good guy goes bad, helping the enemy, the deputy said fuck work, this is my canon now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2019-11-14 17:43:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18057149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/consenguin/pseuds/consenguin
Summary: The Junior deputy hated his job. When the opportunity came up after being forced to arrest Joseph Seed he decided to quit from here on out and to take everyone on the way out with him, the cult and any innocent person that dare lay in his path would be killed. The Project noticed this and tried to find people to help them. In order to get help, they had to reach out to the people they hurt, and in turn, dissolved their system for forgiveness.  Past relationships are brought up again, and just in time for the world to end.





	1. Part Zero - Hey, Brother || Chapter one - Burning effigy

July 16 1986. Rome, Georgia. 

 

         "Hey!Don't think you can hide little weasel!" The booming voice of a fifteen year old called out as he scanned the sea of golden wheat in front of him, trying to find any sort of oddity or thing that didn't belong. The twelve year old next to him was groaning, but following after his brother. "You know, Joseph - I never said you had to play with Jane and me.You can go home right now if you want." The younger boy shook his head violently.

         "First of all, Jacob. It's Jane and I. Also, I don't want to risk running into Old man. So i'm perfectly fine complaining while you play." Joseph gripped onto his books as they wandered the field. Jacob paused for a moment, squinting his eyes as he scanned the field. Not too far from them was the rustling of wheat. Bingo. Jacob bounded over to the spot. He was bigger than his brother, not only due to his age but his figure was more impressive and built than the other. He had messy red hair, and dressed in broken,old jeans and an oversized flannel shirt. Joseph on the other hand, was rather thin and with  deep brown hair accompanying striking blue eyes. Joseph didn't follow this time as he knew it was going to get rough over there. 

         The small bit of moving was attributed to a young girl, around five years old. She had the same red hair as Jacob and the same striking blue eyes as Joseph. In other words, she was their sister. Her name was Jane Seed and until a few months ago, she was the baby of the family. The move up to middle sibling came with the addition of John to the family. He already had hair when he came out, and the same glittering blue eyes as the other siblings. 

         Jacob found the young girl and tackled her, making sure not to seriously injure her, but still roughhousing. She screamed in delight as she tried to break free from her brother's grasp.

         "Joseph, help me!" Her voice carried over the grains. "No one is coming to save you." the boy shouted back, flipping through his book. He was waiting for his siblings to be done playing so they could get back and he could really read his book an hide it before, well, their dad came home.  Jacob held the young girl down, similar to how he'd seen cops do it on the tv he rarely got to watch. " Come on Janey." He taunted as she struggled to break free from his hold. "You gotta be strong. If you aren't strong, you're meat." Now Jane wasn't at all close to being as strong as Jacob, but she managed to bite his arm and run off, hiding behind Joseph.  Jacob rubbed his arm but grinned proudly as he walked back over. "Biting can't be your only tactic, but good job, we'll have to work on this some more."He looked up to the sky for a second "We gotta get home" 

          Jacob opened the door slowly, keeping an eye out for anything, or anyone before walking in with his two siblings following behind him. He walked in such a way to protect them, from what? From incase their father was home before they got back. Which he was.

         Old man seed was no looker. He was gnarled, old , dirty and most often- drunk. He didn't work anymore, but was often out of the house drinking or doing god knows what, so the kids took that time he was gone to have fun. They usually got back before he did, and things were fine, but not today.  The old man was angry, and the boys knew what would come next- whippings, beatings, anything to get his anger out. 

         "Git upstairs girl. Yer brother needs looking after." Old man spoke, his voice deep and gravely. Jane squeezed from behind the two boys and scurried up the stairs, eyes diverted away from her father, scared and afraid. She sat at the top of the stairs for a second, and listened to the two deafening cracks before she went to go check on John. 

         John wasn't alone in the room that Jane shared with him. Their mother stared, glossy eyed at the crib. Jane stood in the doorway for a second, watching the ghost of a woman before she motioned for her daughter to join her. Everyone called her dad old man seed, but they had nothing to say about her mom,nothing to call her. Jane went to the woman's side and was hugged. It didn't feel real. It felt like the arms of a mannequin, or a doll. Her mother let her go and left the room, no words exchanged between the two of them. 

          Jane leaned over the side of the crib to check on her brother. Normally, five year olds wouldn't be doing this kind of thing. Most weren't equipped to clean up around the house, do laundry, things like that- but jane was expected to learn quicker than most. She still failed hard most of the time, but she was learning. Her father once said that he wanted his women quiet, out of sight, and useful. If they weren't any of those things, then they needed to go.Jane was all three, she hardly ever spoke in public, was hardly ever seen, and could do a lot more than most five year olds coul at her age. Her brothers experienced the same treatment, but worse. Jacob and Joseph were forced to work early on to get money for their dad. When they weren't working ,they were studying the bible until their eyes bled and the scripture was the only thing they could mutter in the dead of night. Jane didn't like any of this, and hoped that john would make things better.

         Joseph clung to the scraps of his book. He'd managed to hide enough money to buy it, only to have it torn up by Old Man after he beat him and Jacob. Jacob was still getting yelled at by their father, and judging by the noises- it seemed like Jacob started yelling back. He sat down on the bed they shared, and curled up into the fetal position before trying to fall asleep - if only for a few moments. 

         Jacob burned his throat with yelling, his body ached with the marks and bruises that Old man gave him. It was dark when he was finally allowed to leave, to go upstairs and let the sweet release of sleep to envelop him. He passed by Jane's room and looked in to see her reading the bible. It was the only book they were allowed to own, and each child had a copy. He didn't smile, but sighed before finally marching into the room he shared with Joseph and collapsing into their shared bed. He faced away from joseph, and glared at the wall for the longest time, rage was starting to build up in him little by little. 

         A few hours later, in the dead of night after most of them had gone to bed, jane snuck out of her room. She walked with light feet and made her way into the bedroom her brothers shared. The door opening did not wake either boy, and jane quickly hurried to close the door afterwards. She crawled into the middle, wanting to comfort her brothers. Joseph and Jacob both noticed her as the bed dipped with her weight. They both turned to face her , and without saying anything, the three fell into a smoother sleep than they had earlier. 


	2. Part Zero - Hey,brother || Chapter two - Small Animals.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tw: Homophobia, abuse.

 

 

November 17th, 2008  Hope County, Montana

          To say that Caleb didn't want to see his sister get hurt was a complete fucking lie. She'd been watching him when she wasn't at school , or with that Jessop girl from the farm down the street. She'd been watching him to make sure he was alright, but caleb didn't know that- he thought that she was watching him to tell dad, because he got beat rather consistently nowadays.Though they were both getting hit for rather mundane things, Caleb internalized it as it being Aless' fault, and that he had to suck up to their father in order to get it to stop. So he was trying to find something, anything that he could use to get Aless in trouble for once, something to make dad proud of him. Then, he found it. 

          He was reading one of his history textbooks in his room when he heard giggling coming from the wall that was connected to Aless' room. He knew that dad was out , and dad's rule was that no one was allowed over while he was out. He barely allowed people while he was in as it was, but while he was out? Out of the question. Creeping quietly, he was lucky to see that Aless' bedroom door was open. Caleb held his breath as he tried to peek around, hoping to find the source of the giggles. Then he found it, or rather, her. Rachel Jessop was kissing his sister. Something that Caleb knew his father did not like. Aless and him had gotten into shouting matches about it, but now Caleb had proof that it was really going on. This would make his father impressed at him.

          Rachel had managed to see him peeking, but decided that it wasn't worth telling Aless. She didn't know much, other than Aless and her father fought. She just thought that her little brother was curious, being the age for that to be normal. That's how she got to be able to kiss Aless, being curious herself of the cute girl she saw in school- talking to other beautiful people.She smiled, thinking that Caleb soon would be figuring out who he was through love. 

          Caleb already knew who he was. Love was a tool that was used to control people, if you were weak then you were powerless and your partner could do whatever they wanted to you. He'd seen girls fall victim to him already, and he really didn't care about them, love, or sexuality. He wanted to go unnoticed, and being a Rook was making that hard. People found him, his father, and his sister to be attractive- and so he rarely was alone. If it wasn't the girls, it was the men- wanting to be him. Caleb walked confidently back into his room ,a sly smile on his face as he got ready to present his case to their father. 

          By the millisecond that Patrick Rook set foot into the house, a cold beer and warm food was ready for him. He didn't need to think hard to know who it was attributed to. 

          "Come here boy." Patrick called out , and Caleb stepped out from the kitchen archway, lips in a flat line of false disinterest.

          "Yes, father?" Caleb spoke. "You make this?" Patrick already knew the answer. "Yes, father. I was hoping to talk to you, as well." Patrick was already opening his beer, and pointed to one of the other seats in the living room with it. "Sit and talk.Make it quick, boy." Before Caleb even opened his mouth, the tv was on, and a baseball game was already blaring. Caleb increased his voice , and decided that blurting it right out was going to be the quickest way to get things done. 

          "Aless is gay, dad. I saw her kissing that Jessop girl while you were out at work." In the same split second the tv was on, it was then turned off. "She's fucking what?!?" Patrick shouted, glaring in the direction of his son- but not at him. Caleb feigned shock and awe at the situation."I couldn't believe it myself.They might still be up there, or Aless could have snuck her out." The gates of Patrick's rage were now overflowing. He was a deeply homophobic man, not that they were really religous- but Patrick saw it as the sickest and most wrong thing that anyone could do. The fact that his own seed was gay, was as if she herself had shot him point blank. 

          The following events had gone by rather quickly, one after another. His father running up the stairs, the shouting of him and aless , aless shouting for caleb in anger, the sounds of fists and screams, and Caleb making himself a sandwich,texting some useless girl on the phone someone had bought him. He wasn't smiling, he never truly smiled, but Caleb was glad that it was her instead of him getting hurt. Aless stayed home for the rest of the week, with Caleb unable to answer Rachel's questions at school. That was really the start of the divide between the siblings, nothing before was ever as bad as Aless knowing her brother sold her out. Everything after would forever be different. 

          Aless spent the rest of that night, in bed and in pain. She was scared, upset and angry. When her father had confronted her about the issue - she was confused at first. She had tried to deny it, but when Patrick brought up that Caleb was the one who had seen them kiss, she became more pissed than ever. By no means were here and him close, Caleb was always a weird and disturbed child, but this was the tipping point. She'd yelled at him from her room, calling him every available name under the sun before the abuse and beating happened. 

          If Patrick were to kick her out, he knew she wouldn't keep quiet about what he was doing , so he kept her in and threatened to do more, irreversible damage to her if she tried to tell anyone. Aless would eventually tell Rachel,who would be outraged, but other than that no one would know. If Rachel tried to tell anyone, they wouldn't believe her. People liked Patrick, he sold cars and was well known in Hope county. So any allegation of him even being rude would be dismissed right away. 

          Lying, curled in the fetal position, Aless began to plan. The first chance she got, she'd run away- with Rachel or not, and never - ever come back to Hope county. Not for fucking anything in the world. 


	3. Part One - Dutch || Chapter one - And So It Begins

         Caleb Rook’s eyes were trained on his phone. Sure, he knew what the situation at hand was; some backwater hick had managed to gain control of a bunch of drugs,guns and other backwater hicks. He grew up here, but the people running the cult- weren’t from the area. Why here of all places? He wondered, muttering before the connection failed.

         “Did it jam?” Sheriff Whitehorse questioned him. Caleb nodded, looking directly into the man’s eyes.

          “I was trying to get some better info on the guy, so we could understand him a bit more.” Caleb’s voice was smooth, a bit raspy, but in the kind of way that made girls swoon. Joey Hudson was not one of them, and she groaned whenever the man got visitors during slow work days. Staci Pratt didn’t mind him, the two were somewhat friends and often got drinks together after work.

         “You trying to prove yourself Rook?” Staci chuckled, stealing a side glance at the rookie deputy. “You talking shit Staci?” Caleb teased back, adding extra emphasis on the man’s name. The u.s. marshal that was tagging along with them grumbled angrily. This didn’t seem like a nice man. He seemed no-nonsense and liked to get things done his way. Caleb zoned out while the sheriff asked the marshal if he wanted to turn back. When he said no, the helicopter made its descent into the compound.

           Caleb knew what was coming when he first saw photos of the compound. The church was an old construct, but the buildings and everything else around it was new- created by the cult. Despite being smack dab in the middle of his hometown, the area the compound was in felt more alien to him, than anything else. Walking slowly to the church with Hudson, the marshal and Whitehorse- Caleb could spot the eyes of people he knew, people he grew up with. There were a lot of out of town people, but the locals were just as, if not more, scary to him.

         Before Caleb could enter the church , joey pressed her hand into his chest.

         “Don’t fuck this up Rook.” She spoke in a solemn tone, almost a threat. Joey wanted to be in there with them, but the sheriff thought that door duty was better for her. Caleb had to smile a bit at that, he was better than her- and she knew it. Caleb took her hand off of him and proceeded into the church, following the others.

         Caleb Rook was, in all honesty, handsome. He’d been compared to a few celebrities in the past. Soft, shiny brown hair; glittering white teeth; dreamy hazel eyes. It was really no wonder to him that girls and guys fell for him so often. Though, Rook would be lying if he said he was into that kind of thing. Love wasn’t something he was into - and getting physical to him was only for the purpose of ‘spreading his seed’ as his father had taught him. Right, thanks dad. So when Caleb set eyes on the leader of the cult in person ; he knew right then why so many people joined him. The man wasn’t awful to look at, and seemed confident in himself to not come off as arrogant about it.

         Despite all this, the right thing to do was to slap the cuffs on the wrists of the man and lead him to justice. His family seemed too calm about it, and the moment they left the safety of the church- the crowd erupted into threats and terror. Guns were drawn in threatened stances, slurs and curses were shouted at everyone in the group . Prayers could be heard in all directions, some from the Bible, and some not. No matter, they got to the helicopter with relative ease until it happened. Someone threw a Molotov cocktail near them , the bottle exploding on contact with the ground. On that signal , the faithful began rushing the fences, hopping over and trying to get as close to the group as possible. It was clear they wanted to take Joseph seed.

         The creepy fucker was singing and humming the entire time as Rook managed, with Hudson and the Marshal’s help, to shove the cult leader into a seat on the chopper. They had to kick and shove and punch the faithful off the copter, as Pratt got it up and running. Whitehorse was trying to make a call to dispatch earlier, before they left the copter, saying to call in the national guard if shit went south. Well, it seemed that shit really did go fucking south. The last of the faithful was kicked off and the group thought they could breathe for a moment, before a rocket hit the propeller for the helicopter.

         The machine spared no grace as it fell to the earth with a thundering crash. Caleb Rook was knocked unconscious in the crash, and came to with the helicopter being flipped upside down. Everyone else was unconscious….except- the father was gone! Joseph Seed was no longer in the seat they had strapped him into. Caleb began struggling in his seat when he heard Nancy, the dispatcher’s voice come in through the radio. She was crying, hoping one of them was alright and would respond. Caleb’s heart fluttered with the thought and he desperately tried to grab for the headphones that were hanging when-

         “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” The voice was haunting, deep and belonged to the man that Caleb had just tried to arrest. The man was no longer hand cuffed, and climbed into the pit of the helicopter. Crouching in front of him, Joseph squinted and he appeared to be studying the man’s face. “God told me about you.” Caleb wanted to laugh in the man’s face, and he did so. “Oh yeah? What did he want? It’s 2018, he could’ve just texted me.” The words were laden with charismatic poison , and Joseph seed angrily gripped the man’s face before noticing the headset. That’s when Caleb learned how fucked he was. Nancy was one of them, or at the least- brainwashed by them. No one was coming to help them. “God told me that you will cause what I’ve created to crumble, my family to die, and you will burn the world with your anger.” “That sounds like a You problem, not a me problem.” Joseph slammed Caleb’s head back. “It will become a you problem. In time.” And Joseph went to crawl out of the pit, grinning as a truck full of his faithful- the “ peggies” pull up. The others in the helicopter start coming to as Joseph starts to rant about the end of days- the collapse, beginning. Rook was still really trying to get his seatbelt off when the man yelled…

         “BEGIN THE REAPING!!” Someone grabbed Hudson and the Marshal - and was about to grab Caleb when part of the helicopter exploded. This gave Caleb ample time to get unbuckled and run off into the woods. His breath hastened and his heart rate picked up as he pressed on harder into the woods. There was never a time when Caleb had felt like this. Police academy never trained him for something like this happening. Life had never trained him for this, but he knew someone who was perfect for this situation.

         Still running, Caleb managed to kill a few Peggies and steal s pistol and some ammo before he came across a trailer. He was going to stop in there for a moment to breathe, Caleb thought to himself and ran inside, closing the door with a shoulder slam. Caleb allowed himself a calm moment to breathe in the small entrance before looking around. He’d barely stepped into the rest of the trailer when he spotted the shadow. Caleb readied his pistol, taking a deep breath before rounding the corner, gun drawn to find -

         “Motherfucker.” Caleb cursed, shoving his pistol in his pocket.

         “Watch the language, bitch.” Spoke a woman who looked similar to him, only older and with facial scars that accentuated her face. “You might still need to use that fun on me. Never know who might be one of them Caleb.” The woman spoke as she flipped through a book. Setting it down, her deep brown eyes gazed at him. “Aless.” Caleb started. “Were you listening in on me the entire time?” Pinching the bridge of his nose, Caleb sighed. That was the only explanation for his sister following him here.

         See, Caleb and Aless were never on the right foot. Especially not after their father kicked her out at seventeen. He’d remembered his sister telling him that she’d never return back here. So her presence at the Hope County police station was odd to him. “Why did you come back here?” Caleb questioned, not giving Aless time to answer his first question. Aless paused for a moment, thinking to herself.

         “Well, it’s because-“ the noise of gunfire interrupted the conversation. Some of the Peggies had caught up to them. Aless threw a gun at Caleb from the table. “I hope you know how to shoot.” She spoke, grabbing another one off of the wall. Caleb rolled his eyes as he positioned himself to take out a couple from through the window. “Do you ?” Aless took her chance and jumped through the window, taking out the few that had shown up. More would come. This was Aless showing off. “I was in the military Caleb!”

         Caleb followed his sister through the window, helping cover her as she noticed a nearby truck. If it worked they could get out of there, and notify others. Once Aless got it to work, she breathed a sigh of relief, yelling for Caleb to join her. As much as she wanted him dead, this wasn’t how she wanted it to happen. “Let’s get out of here!” She shouted. Caleb climbed in the truck bed and Aless sped off. “This is the road I took to get in here!” She shouted again , pointing to the road ahead of them. “Hopefully it’s not occupied again.” Caleb looked ahead of them. “I wouldn’t hold your breath.” He spoke. The exit was heavily fortified. “FUCK!” Aless angrily let out and swerved to turn a different direction. Some of the Peggies ran to follow them. Caleb began shooting as the ones who did follow them. He never really liked guns. Knives and bats were his weapons of choice, but he had to use firearms on the job so he at least already knew how to shoot. Noticing some dynamite in the bed with him- Caleb lit the sticks and threw it at a few cars that were getting s but close to them.

         An airplane that few above them, surprised the pair, but Aless kept a firm grip on the steering wheel. “Alright. Just over this bridge and then we can hopefully get the fuck out of here.” It wasn’t long after those words had been spoken that the airplane came back and shot them off the road-,er, off the bridge. The truck went flying and Caleb took all of his strength to hold onto the truck as it flew. Crashing into the water, he fell somewhat with the truck, but didn’t sink like Aless…. wait. Aless was sinking . Caleb dove quickly underwater to help his sister out, using his trusty belt knife to cut the seatbelt. The two swam to the surface to breathe and watched as trucks passed by , searchlights going. One searchlight pointed at the water, nearly aimed at them before Aless pulled Caleb under with her. That was a pointless endeavor though, waiting for the lights to pass, both adults managed to pass out.

         They washed ashore together, with Caleb slightly more conscious than Aless. He could hear footsteps, and voices. One was telling the other to grab the woman, and them he was getting picked up. He didn’t see any faces, nor could he really hear them correctly. Caleb was just hoping that this wasn’t going to be some elaborate trap for them. He passed out again after the other voice mentioned something about handcuffing them, just so they wouldn’t fight. Caleb couldn’t fight for shit right now, but he knew he wanted to. Later, maybe.


	4. Part One - Dutch || Chapter two - Guardian Sniper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the other protagonist enters finally!

         Both siblings woke up to the noise of a radio, and the voice of the leader of the cult coming through the radio. Aless was chained up to one end of the bed, and Caleb was chained to the other. Hands in handcuffs ,handcuffs chained to the bed legs. Caleb tugged at his restraints, panic setting into his body. He had no fucking clue where he was, and as far as he knew - him and Aless were being chased. There was a very real possibility that this person was going to sell them out to the cult. Aless on the other hand was taking a chance to calculate the situation. She’d been scanning the room, trying to find a chance to get herself out of there as soon as possible, especially with this man as the unknown factor.Before either person could do anything- the man turned around. 

         “You’ve seen the roads. I know this. I watched the girl here drive in, but there’s no roads out now. All of them are blocked up. Any chance for any of us to leave this shithole is out the fucking door since both of you showed up.” The man’s voice was angry. He was bald, with a white goatee- dressed in old fatigues. THis man had seen war, and it looked to them that another one was on the horizon. 

         “I was just doing my job.If not me, then someone else.”Caleb was trying to be defensive, to gain some kind of emotion in his favor. The man. just scoffed and paced around the room. “No. It has to be you, because you’re the only one stupid enough to do this. Both of you.” He pointed at Caleb, and then drew his point over to Aless. The man. was about to walk out of the room when Aless yelled after him. “You can’t do this. You can’t give us to the cult!” The man. paused in the doorway before turning around to face the them. “Is that what you think this is about? Why I saved you? No.”The man. went to grab the collar of the woman, a stern expression in his eyes. “You two are going to fix this.Your friends have been taken, locals have been taken, homes and livelihoods have been taken. You’ve kicked off this holy war, and you’re going to see it through.” 

         The man. grabbed the key ring from the nearby table, and tossed it to Aless. “Change. Your clothes are wet, when the two of you are done- meet me in the meeting room. I’ll explain what’s going on.” The man. looked at Caleb, eyes narrowing in suspicion. “Don’t try to run away. I’ve got lock on the door- and a guardian sniper. She’ll spot you in a second.” Caleb groaned and sunk back into his seating position, waiting for Aless to give him the keys. 

         Aless was his older sister, and looked like it. She’d also inherited their parent’s natural attractiveness, with long brown hair and the same dreamy eyes. Her face was lined with scars already, despite being only 25 years old. One such scar was drilled into both of their memories. It had been from the time when their father had finally kicked Aless out, for having sex- gay sex. She’d been thrown into a china cabinet, and had been badly cut. Caleb didn’t care back then, but caleb now was - well, it’s complicated how he was. 

          “Don’t watch me change. I’ll unlock you when I’m done.” She spoke, going to the lockers to find something to wear. Caleb nodded, looking at the wall away from her. When silence settled into the room, Caleb broke it. 

         “Why did you come back?To the station, county, everything. I remember you cursing at dad and I that you’d never come back.” His voice was softened, a bit curious as he listened for his sister’s response. “I, wanted to stay away. But she found me, Caleb. Rachel told me she needed me.” His sister’s voice was sad, but Caleb kept his eyes trained on the wall in front of him. “I haven’t seen her in person, but I found her. In the trailer you found me in. She’s the pretty young ‘sister’ of the cult. I really don’t know what happened to her, but if she messaged for me, she needs me. So I’m here.” The creak of the locker door signaled that Aless was done changing. Kneeling down in front of Caleb, she unlocked her younger brother’s handcuffs. “So we’re doing this right?”Caleb questioned her. “Yes. You have your duty, and I have mine. Whatever it takes. However long it takes.”

         After Caleb got changed, he found the room that The man. was talking about. Cast in a red light, the walls were half covered in televisions, half covered in maps and other papers. “Both of you are here now. Good, take a seat- I’ll call my friend in and we can get started.”The man. spoke, and motioned to some seats he’d set up in the room. Caleb sat farther away from Aless, but looked at her for reassurance. Aless shook her head and began studying the map that covered one whole wall. 

       The man. walked over to the monitor wall , and pressed on a button that was near a mic. “Jane. They’re awake and not going anywhere, come on down.” A grunt came in from the other end. Then the waiting began.

         It was a few moments before a foot stomp on what sounded like metal. “Open up, it’s me.”A woman’ voice added after the stomp. The man pressed another button and footsteps drew from down the hall. The two siblings looked for the source, and when they saw her- both momentarily were a little taken. 

         This woman was around six feet tall, with bleached blonde hair , ice blue eyes and freckled, tan skin. She was carrying a sniper and set it near the door before walking over to the man. “Is this them?” Her voice was nice, kind of deep but it went down easy. “Yeah.” The man spoke, “You want to explain it to them” The woman sighed but walked over to the map. 

         “I’m guessing that Dutch here never properly introduced himself. He’s Dutch, Im Jane. We’re part of the resistance- the people who are trying to push back against the cult here in Hope County. We aren’t the only ones, but we might as well be- as we’re all spread out.” Jane stepped to the side , and began pointing to the map. There was a moment of hesitation , and Jane looked up to Dutch. Dutch nodded ,and took Jane’s place, while the woman grabbed her sniper and left to go to the armory room to clean it. Before Dutch could continue, Caleb blurted out. “Hey. What’s her issue?” Dutch scowled , shaking his head. “It’s not my place to tell you her problems. Stop trying to get out of this. Focus. “Dutch pointed to the map and began explaining. 

         Aless didn’t really pay attention to most of what Dutch was saying until he got to the Henbane river region. “The woman who runs this area is Faith. The little sister, she’s not really their sister- but she’s pretty much the only one.” Aless wasn’t wrapping her head around this. This wasn’t Faith, this was Rachel, her Rachel. What the hell was going on. “Is faith a title?” She questioned after Dutch finished about Faith. “As far as any of us know, it is. She’s not the first, and I don’t know anything else about her.” Dutch watched the woman’s face closely, watching the gears turn in her head. He wasn’t going to say anything to her, this was her problem, and he had no right to bother her about it.

        “I’ll give you each a gun, and some food- but then you’re following Jane out. She’ll be helping you get to Fall’s end, where the bulk of the resistance is. What you do after that is up to you. You can work with her, or leave her alone.” Caleb wanted to ditch at the first chance, but the glare that Aless was giving him, kept him from doing that.


	5. Part one - Dutch || chapter three - Hit the Road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot longer than my other four.

Neither one of the two siblings was prepared for the amount of light that flooded them once they left Dutch’s bunker. Shielding their eyes, Aless and Caleb followed Jane up and out. Dutch came over Jane’s radio - just to make sure it was still working. Jane told him it was fine, and to not worry about them as they headed out. Dutch made some big deal about him not worrying and that he really didn’t care, but Jane rolled her eyes. She knew he cared. 

         They walked for a couple of minutes until the three of them heard what sounded like a scream. “Sounds like that came from the fire tower. Let’s go.”Jane motioned for the two to follow her, the woman rushing a bit. They’d heard voices only a few seconds of moving later. One was a scared person , pleading for help. The other was a Peggie telling them to shut up. “Stay here.” Jane whispered. “Watch.” With those words it felt like Jane had disappeared. One moment her slender index pressed against her lips , the next - gently blowing wind pressed against the grass where she’d stood.

The next time they saw her, seconds later, Jane had driven a knife through the back of a peggie. She laid the body down , speaking a few words that weren’t audible to the siblings, and untying the man that had called out for help. She motioned for Aless and Caleb to join her. She had one foot on the back of the dead peggie ,and was pulling her knife out of his back when they approached. “Killing peggies isn’t usually the best thing to do, but you won’t go to hell if it’s self defence, or to save someone else.” 

“You religious?” Caleb asked Jane, looking at the freed prisoner, who was still standing there nearby.

“I used to be.” Jane spoke , motioning with her head for them to keep moving. 

          “ W-wait!” The prisoner shouted after the group, he scrambled to catch up, nearly tripping onto Caleb, who looked annoyed. “The cult just built one of those, those monument things just that way on the island.” The man pointed over their shoulders. “It’s on the coast line, really not hard to miss it.” Jane nodded , squinting her eyes in the direction the man pointed. “Thank you, we’ll go check it out.” The man nodded, and walked in the direction of the nearest structure , a firewatch tower.

         “ So the Cult has monuments?” Aless questioned, she hadn’t seen the statue when she drove into the county. “Not just monuments. I’ve seen that tacky statue of their fucking father on my ride in. Why the hell did your people allow this?” Caleb’s face was tight with anger and disgust, thinking back to the giant thing. “We didn’t, I’m pretty much one of the last deputies in the county. The others are either dead or converted. Most of the converted officers allowed it.Loved it even.”Jane focused on her own footsteps,not wanting to look at either of the visitors.

         “So you’re, the last one?”Aless was more concerned than anything, she looked to her brother for assurance but the younger man just shook his head. “That’s what she said Aless.” His sister rolling her eyes.

         They continued on their the monument, where Jane showed the two of them, again, another way to take back the place from the cult. “These fucking things are all over the county. Getting rid of them won’t stop them from coming, but it will make the siblings angry. You want that. If you have power over them, then you can take them down easier.” All it was was a few well placed gunshots and the explosive silo combusted instantly, bliss and shrapnel going everywhere. The group was far enough away from the bliss to not inhale it. Before Jane could say another word, the radio strapped to the woman’s hip crackled to life. 

         “Hey Jane, I’ve been picking up sound from near where you are, sounds like the cult’s taken some guy and his crew hostage, and forcefully injecting them with bliss, better get on down there.” Dutch’s voice , though it hadn’t been but a few hours maybe since they last saw him, it felt odd and foreign to them. Maybe it was just the radio. “Alright. I’ll head out there ASAP.” And with those words barely passing Jane’s lips, she began hurrying off, leaving Caleb and Aless to confusingly trot behind her. “What’s bliss?” Aless questioned, with Caleb nodding as he followed behind his sister. “Bliss is a drug that the cult created. The little sister Faith created it. Not this one. There have been many of them ,but this one knows how to market it better. Meaning , she’s much prettier and charismatic than the others. The bliss will make you very vulnerable to not only her but to the cult in general. It’ll turn your brain to mush if you let it.” 

        “No we don’t want that.” Caleb muttered to himself as they continued to run in the woods. Jane stopped them when the group came upon a small building near the water. There were pallets stacked with teal barrels that seemed to seep out a glittering gas. It was the same gas that had gone off when Jane shot the tanker. “Think you two can handle this one?” Jane whispered, looking from one side of her to the next, at both siblings. Caleb nodded justly, he was itching to do something again. Jane looked at Aless, who was already heading further in to investigate.

         Caleb went off himself to , in his mind, clean everything up himself and first. He wanted to impress Jane. There was something about her that he liked, maybe it was her look of the way she moved but- it was all interesting. He thought that he saw her looking at him ,with a smile.It was all the confirmation in the world he needed that she was into him, so he took it and ran. Taking down a few guards without the others noticing. 

         Aless was on her own in the same way. She wasn’t focused on trying to impress anyone, she wanted to know that she could do this. Once they got to falls end , Jane had promised them, they’d go their separate ways. Aless needed to find out what happened to Rachel because she’d seen the photos in the trailer- it was her.She was the little sister. Aless thought to herself that there was no way in hell that Rachel would have willingly let herself into the cult, she was smarter than that- anything to placate her mind. In this moment of hazy mindedness, Aless was noticed by one of the guards, who grabbed her with such ferocity and force. 

         “Alright SINNERS SHOW YOURSELF!”The man shouted as he gripped aless, backing up. Caleb sprung up almost instantaneously, getting ready to shoot the man and free his sister, when Aless began kicking. She threw the man off of her but it was too late already, a barrel of bliss had been knocked over and the top tumbled off, spilling the contents everywhere. To aless it felt like cotton and smooth waves washed over her ,the world became lighter and the noises faded out into heart beats. She didn’t even notice when the man who had held her earlier, had his head explode. Caleb was yelling something at her but she couldn’t hear him. Jane popped up from her hiding spot and pulled her bow from off her back. It was a compound bow, and it got the job done. She stuck the final guy in the chest , shaking her head as she went to go untie the two men that the guards had kept prisoner. 

         It felt to Aless likes waves crashing in, sound came flooding back in , like the great movie of her life became unpaused. “Shit.” She cursed out , throwing her fist on the ground. “Are you back on earth yet?” Caleb spat out, “ Or are you still in the sky you fucking kite?.” Aless frowned at him and batted his hand away when he offered to help her up. “Sorry.” She muttered to him. “I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.”Caleb wandered into the building, waving his hand around as he did so. 

         Jane was quiet for the walk, as she led them to the ranger station. “Second to last stop.” was all she said , not even acknowledging Aless’ attempts at apologizing for what she did. When the group got to the station,Jane tossed Aless’ gun back to her. “ If you can take this place back without the peggies killing anyone they might have, then I’ll forgive you.” Aless frowned, she really didn’t like how Jane was acting - treating her like a child. She was in the military,she’d served, but here was this woman- Aless decided she’d do it anyway. She’d do it better than Jane. Aless tossed her pistol back to Jane. “Give me your bow.” She spoke matter-of-factly. Jane shook her head but handed the bow and quiver over to the other woman. 

        Jane watched with intent and intrigue as Aless took all of the peggies down quietly, and even untied the prisoners, and rather quickly. She looked up at where jane was walking over from, and smirked. Jane smiled softly, nodding . “Alright. You’re good.” Jane spoke. Aless bowed slightly and then widened her smirk at Caleb as he looked rather unimpressed. “I think the last thing dutch wants us to do on the island is to fix the radio tower,which I can do alone, and then we can rest here since it’s getting late before heading out to fall’s end. Is that sounding good to you guys?” She looked from Aless to Caleb. When both of the siblings nodded, Jane offered a curt nod. “You can help the guys you just freed clean up, I’ll go fix the radio tower.” 

          With that , Jane wandered north alone. She didn’t have to walk long before coming upon the radio tower. She pressed her radio button as she approached the tower. “Hey Dutch, I’m at your tower.” Speaking into the receiver. “Good! Hope you’re not afraid of heights.” Dutch joked around with her. “Hey. I’ve had that witch push me off my fucking brother’s statue. Don’t joke about heights old man.” She began climbing with Dutch laughing from the other end. 

        “Low blow. Are you getting your quips from Jess now? “

         “No. Jess gets them from me.” 

         “I’d bet. Speaking of your brother though, are you going to tell those two?” The long pause as Jane climbed to the top of the tower was enough for Dutch. “The longer you wait, the worse it’s going to be for you. Especially if you get attacked en route to fall’s end, or hell, in fall’s end if John’s really hellbent on catching those two.” Jane didn’t want to think about that.

          “ Jane- “Dutch started. 

          “Just tell me what you need me to do to this radio tower.” Jane didn’t want to acknowledge the issue. See, Jane was born Jane Seed. She was five years old when john was born, and saw all of the abuse. She’d watched her eldest brother Jacob get carted off to juvie for arson , nearly killing their adoptive parents and lighting their barn on fire. She watched John get adopted by a rich, god fearing couple. They’d have taken Jane, she remembered , if only the girl could speak. Jane was nonverbal for the longest time in her life. She’d been raised to be seen, not heard and when the abuse got worse , her words disappeared entirely. Jane knew how to speak, she just didn’t want to , she was afraid. So when Joseph aged out , he did the only thing he could do and asked the courts to let him take her with him. They did, and with Joseph- Jane found her voice again. They were homeless for most of the time they lived together, with Jane and Joseph working on a peach farm for money to eat. The time went by and once Jane herself turned eighteen, she left to find her own way, not wanting to burden Joseph. 

         She found montana, and then Hope county, the police department and then Grace armstrong.  She’d been Twenty when they met, and when Grace wasn’t away on deployment, or in shooting competitions , she’d meet Jane. They were married by twenty seven, and lived in falls end. Her dad liked Jane, as Jane proved to be one of the hardest workers he’d met. She was an officer at the local station , but often helped anyone around the county. Still wasn’t very talkative, but spoke more. The Seed name then in Montana was nice, known for reliability. 

          When Eden’s gate came through, the father was surprised to hear that there was a Seed in the county already. When they were invited to the Rye’s barbeque , was when they all saw Jane again. Same girl, same rusty red hair as Jacob, same ice blue eyes as John, and the same energy as Joseph. They wanted her to join them , in the new church they were starting, and Jane said that she would check it out but to not hold their breath, as she was already faithful to Father Jefferies’ congregation. Back then, when a no was said, they backed off. 

         Not soon long after , things got violent. When they asked again , and Jane said no - they burned down her wife’s family home, kidnapped her , and tried to forcefully indoctrinate her - all of this without Joseph’s consent. John filled her lungs with water , Jacob filled her stomach with raw human meat, and the raven haired faith pumped her full of drugs. She’d arrived at Joseph’s feet broken. When his anger at his family subsided , she’d been sent home, dumped at the doorstep of Jerome’s church, left to crawl in during a sermon , like a creature out of a horror movie.

        From that day she only spoke a few sentences, simple words and with little emotion. She could no longer eat meat, and stopped looking people in the eye. The church turned into a cult , and the police state started up. Her family’s name became one of hatred and disgust. The people who knew her , knew she wasn’t like them. Outside of Fall’s end though, she got the same treatment as the cultists did. So no, she’d not be telling anyone anytime soon her relationship to these zealots. 

         That night was over as soon as it began, not much was talked about between any of them. Caleb and Aless assumed that something must’ve happened when they were seperated. They packed up their items in the morning , and then proceeded to head off finally for Fall’s end. 

          Here was something that the three of them shared , a love for the open, wide spaces that were the life of Hope County, and all of Montana. It was called Big Sky County for a reason. They’d taken a truck that's been left on the side of the road, and Caleb drove them the way to Fall’s end. Last night the siblings had mentioned growing up in the county, but they didn’t elaborate more on it. It seemed that whenever one wanted to say something, the other would shut them down. It seemed that both sides had something they didn’t want to share with the other, and as long as it could, they’d keep it that way. 


End file.
